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Beyond the Border: Strategic Assets

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Beyond the Border: Strategic Assets ch2.qxd 10/18/1999 2:11 PM Page 63 Chapter 2 Beyond the Border: Strategic Assets Envoys (Presbeis, Presbeutai) Presbeis and presbeutai are translated “ambassadors” by Liddell and Scott,1 but I have used the translation “envoy” to avoid confusion with the twentieth-century conception of ambassadors, who are professionals and normally take up residence in a foreign nation. Most presbeis in the Greek poleis, by contrast, held their of‹ce for the duration of a speci‹ed mission and traveled from their own city to a foreign land to accomplish their assignments.2 Xenophon mentioned that custom accorded envoys some protection, based on morality and the more practical necessity of keeping lines of communication open.3 Unlike heralds, however, they did not normally enjoy a right to immunity (adeia), and they were therefore subject to arrest and even execution.4 Immunity could be obtained for them through treaties and speci‹c agreements negotiated by heralds.5 Other- 1. LSJ s.v. pre!beut®! I, pr¡!bu!, II. 2. This generalization is more true of democracies and oligarchies than autocracies and of the classical period than the Hellenistic. We ‹nd, for example, Megasthenes (the ethnog- rapher) in residence at Chandragupta’s capital in India while acting as Seleucus Nicator’s diplomatic agent (ca. 300–290, cf. Cary 66–67). For specialization in Antigonus the One- Eyed’s court, see Billows 252–54. 3. Xen. Anab. 5.7.27ff. 4. Some examples: Hdt. 7.137; Thuc. 2.67ff., 3.72.1, 8.86.9; Xen. Hell. 5.4.22; Xen. Anab. 5.7.19; Epist. Phil. (in Demosthenes’ corpus) 3; Diod. Sic. 19.79.1; Arrian Anab. 2.15.2, 3.24.4–5; Plut. Ages. 16.3; Photius Biblio. 44b; Harpocration s.v. Hagnias. Even so, maltreatment of envoys was an offense against the state that they represented—in a later context (179), we ‹nd it listed among the (alleged) reasons for war between the Romans and Perseus. 5. The truce between the Athenians and Peloponnesians near the close of the Archi- damian War, for example, contained provisions for safe conduct for kerukes, presbeiai, and akolouthoi engaged in negotiating peace terms (Thuc. 4.118.6). It is odd that special provi- sion was made here for heralds, who would normally have already possessed adeia—per- haps the outrages of the war had rendered even these “untouchables” touchable. See also Thuc. 8.70.2. States sometimes sent kerukes ahead to arrange safe conduct for other 63 ch2.qxd 10/18/1999 2:11 PM Page 64 64 Information Gathering in Classical Greece wise, open (and even imminent) hostilities could and did interrupt the ›ow of envoys to and from states and hence limited their use.6 Even in such times, however, envoys might conduct sub rosa negotiations between disaffected subjects and their prospective allies.7 Given their sphere of operation and their curtailed use during con›icts, it comes as no surprise that the information they provided related almost exclusively to diplomacy and contained little military content.8 The criteria for the appointment of envoys varied according to state, period, and circumstance, and a full treatment of these factors is a study in itself. For our purposes, it suf‹ces to note a few aspects that have a bearing on their function as agents or sources. First, during crises, when another state was hostile and needed to be placated, men were sometimes selected as envoys on the basis of their good personal relationships with the foreign state’s leaders. Such was the situation when the Athenians sent the pro-Spartan Callias to Sparta to secure peace (in 371) and when they chose men congenial to Alexander after he had crushed the Theban revolt (in 335) and was looking south with a suspicious eye.9 One would expect that reports sent by such men could be colored by their sympathy. Conversely, in situations in which a state’s fate did not rely so heavily on another’s goodwill, the selection of people hostile to a foreign government was thought to ensure that the envoys would be critical of appearances and announce what was true rather than what was pleasant. Demosthenes alleged that Aeschines was envoys or to accompany them. See, e.g., Aeschin. II (On the embassy) 109; Demosth. XIX (On the embassy) 163. Cf. Adcock and Mosley 153–54. At the opening of the Peloponnesian War the accompaniment of envoys by a herald’s kerukeion would have indicated that a state of war existed (Thuc. 1.53.1ff.; cf. Demosth. XVIII [On the crown] 166). Thucydides noted that before war between the Athenians and the Peloponnesians was openly admitted, there was interaction between Athens and Sparta without heralds, albeit with suspicion; after the war was being waged openly, they no longer had relations without heralds present (Thuc. 1.146; cf. Hdt. 3.43). 6. E.g., Thuc. 1.139.1, 5.80.1. 7. E.g., Thuc. 1.67.2, 8.7.1. Cf. Aratus’ secret negotiations with Antigonus, at the time his enemy in policy, if not in spirit (Polyb. 2.47.4). 8. Except insofar as foreign relations and military operations on the strategic level were always intertwined. However, in the Hellenistic period there are references to quite detailed descriptions of military forces given by envoys: Polyb. 21.26.1–4; Plut. Flam. 17.4. 9. Xen. Hell. 6.3.2; Arrian Anab. 1.10.3. See also Thuc. 5.40.2, 5.44. Cf. Homer Iliad 9.197–98; Xen. Cyr. 5.1.3; Plut. Nic. 9.3–5. It is possible that when Alexander chose a man from his ranks who happened to be of the same ethnicity as the recipients of his embassy, he did so for convenience of translation as much as congeniality (Q. Curtius 8.2.25). See also Thuc. 8.5.4, 8.85.2, for Persian employment of Greeks and Carians. ch2.qxd 10/18/1999 2:11 PM Page 65 Beyond the Border 65 sent as an envoy to Philip because of his initial hostility to the Macedon- ian, since other envoys had given misleading reports about the prospects of peace.10 One might, however, expect that interpretations of events presented by these men would be in›uenced by their ill will. An embassy comprising both types might provide a balance, and the Greeks may well have realized this. In any event, the custom of sending three or more envoys on a given mission afforded recipients of information access to different perspectives and also made it dif‹cult for any one envoy to manipulate messages based on his own personal agenda.11 Second, while envoys did not normally hold a professional of‹ce, they were often drawn from small groups of people considered appropriate for particular tasks, based on their status in their own community and their connections to men of in›uence abroad. This characterization has some validity even in democratic states but is particularly true of the Lacedaemonians (who might have been inclined to restrict the number of individuals exposed to foreign corruption). Antalcidas, for example, is thought to have handled all embassies to Persia in the early fourth cen- tury.12 Autocrats might go so far as to appoint specialists, as the Thra- cian Seuthes appointed Medosades.13 Hence there was a possibility for individuals to develop expertise in policy with a given state and be rec- ognized as an authority on it. Third, the application of minimum age requirements could also have an impact on the credibility of envoys as sources, if older men were per- ceived (as Lysias indicated) as knowledgeable and wise.14 State control of presbeiai was strict. People were not permitted to speak on behalf of their states unless so appointed; otherwise they faced ‹nes or death.15 In Athens, envoys returning from service abroad were subject to a scrutiny of their actions and reports.16 They were account- able for the accuracy of their reports as well as for the general conduct of their missions, and they could be liable to measures taken by a state exas- 10. Demosth. IX (On the embassy) 12. 11. Nearly all references to diplomatic activity refer to more than one envoy. See Adcock and Mosley 155 for numbers commonly sent by various states. 12. Adcock and Mosley 156. 13. Xen. Anab. 7.2.13 and 23, 7.7.6. 14. Lysias XXIII (Against Pancleon) 5. Cf. Iliad 1.250–74; Isoc. VI (Archidamus) 4. I know of no upper limit on the age of envoys—a Rhodian envoy, Theaedetus, was over eighty years old when he appeared before the Roman senate. The poor man died of natural causes before the senate made an of‹cial reply (Polyb. 30.21.1–2). 15. Xen. Hell. 5.3.11; cf. 2.3.40. 16. Demosth. IX (On the embassy) 211; the scrutiny was conducted by the logistai. ch2.qxd 10/18/1999 2:11 PM Page 66 66 Information Gathering in Classical Greece perated with failure. Andocides mentioned that envoys must be guided by written instructions when negotiating for peace, although it is not clear whether his statement is a recommendation or a re›ection of prac- tice.17 If the latter, envoys would be precluded from taking advantage of information garnered by themselves in the course of an embassy. Such a practice would also provide a target for the information-gathering ser- vices of another state, which would no doubt find these instructions highly interesting and valuable for conducting negotiations. In any case, envoys were rarely authorized to make decisions on the spot but were compelled to refer developments back to their states and await instruc- tions.18 Consequently, negotiations were often protracted.
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